


To Wish for Freedom

by Jasenerd



Category: Fate/stay night (Visual Novel), 신의 탑 | Tower of God
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:34:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23436247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jasenerd/pseuds/Jasenerd
Summary: Archer has been serving as a counter guardian for longer than he can remember, been called to cull threats to humanity at the cost of his own sanity and desires. In the wake of the Fifth Holy Grail War, he is reluctant to return to that life, and seeks out a place where he needs not to sacrifice his own peace. A place were his wish could be granted. A tower said to contain all desires could be the key to his freedom, and so he climbs.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 74





	1. Pilot

They say there is a place beyond worlds.

A tower.

A tower that holds all that could be wished for.

Money and wealth.

Honour and pride.

Authority and power.

A tower, that if you could just receive access, held all you wished.

Or, if you haven’t been chosen in countless lifetimes, you could always,

Open the gate yourself.

==============

At the end of the fifth Holy Grail War, Archer found himself at peace. Rin would watch after his younger self, and save the fool from his own idiocy. Archer’s last dregs of prana was already gone, leaving his body to fade in the light breeze. A sound from behind, his master running towards him. A flickering nostalgia washed over him. 

“Archer!” Rin yelled, catching up to him. “Archer…”

“It’s unfortunate, but that’s how it turns out. Give up the grail this time, Rin.” A sense of deja vu overtook Archer. This wasn’t the first time he had spoken those words, even if the memory was gone. A chuckle escapes him.

“How can you be laughing right now?” Rin scolded.

“Just how sorry a pair we make.” Archer deflected.

“Archer…” Rin began, causing him to turn and face his master once again, “make a pact with me again?”

The smile slid off Archer’s face at her offer. Bitter nostalgia sunk into his heart, as he turned away from Rin. “I can’t do that. I’ve not the right. My battle ended with the war.”

“But, that means, you wont be saved. You’ll suffer eternal torment as a Counter Guardian.”

Archer let out a bitter breath. Eternal torment indeed, if he had gone through these events before, only to forget. Then the peace he felt now was only a reprieve. How many times did he watch Shirou overcome what he never could? How many times had he felt himself saved only to have his peace destroyed by time itself.

“Tohsaka, such an ambitious master you were.” Archer said, looking off to the rising sun. “Focus on changing what you can. Don’t let him follow my steps.” The air hung, and the decay spread to his clothing. Blue dust floated around Archer as his body died.

“What about you? Can’t I save both of you?” Rin said.

“No, you can’t.” Archer replied. “Nothing can save me.”

“No!” Rin shouted, forcing Archer to peer at his old master. “I refuse to believe that! There must be some way to save you, some mystery capable or place powerful enough.”

Gratitude welled beneath Archer’s breast, and his distant facade shattered. “Rin...”

“Now quick, make a pact with me!” Rin ordered. “Then we’ll find whatever will free you from your contract.”

A memory long lost was shaken awake, something about her words reminding Archer of, “A tower holding all wishes…” He muttered, his mind rounding on itself to find his answer.

“What?” 

“No matter what you seek, you shall find it there…” Archer continued, paying little mind to his disappearing legs. Large doors formed in his mind’s eye. Doors familiar to him. Archer had already been refused, long before now.

“What are you talking about Archer?” Rin asked, stepping forward.

What had he said to his younger self? ‘If you cannot defeat your enemy with what you have, them imagine something with which you could’, if Archer recalled correctly. Perhaps would at least try to follow his own advice. Archer closed his eyes, and let his reality marble come into focus. He needed a tool to open the way.

Rin moved to place a hand on Archer. However, before her hand made contact, Archer disappeared in a golden aurora. 

===========

The first thing Archer noticed was the heavy air. Each breath of it brought a burst of prana into his body. The second was the cave he was standing in. The walls carried an elaborate set of engravings of mythological scenes. Battles between men and beasts not out of place between Heracles and Medea. His servant body stabilized with the trickle of prana, so he walked over to the nearest wall. Inscribed upon it was a group of ten people battling a large beast that resembled a chimera mixed with a squid.

Footsteps from further into the cave echoed around his ears. Archer turned his back and walked towards the sounds. The carvings continued, detailing a progressing epic. A couple dozen metres and the caved opened suddenly, becoming large enough to fight freely. The darkness creeping at the top of the cave was beaten back by purple light leaking through a crack in the ceiling. 

Standing in the middle of the voluminous room was a bipedal creature with white fur and an elongated snout and ears. It gave the creature the look of a rabbit. The creature was wielding a large staff with brilliant blue orbs on either end. He held it slightly behind his body, suggesting value. His clothing was formal, clean black vest and shorts with large three digit gloves and white boots. Archer suppressed his instinct to use Structural Analysis on the weapon, mindful of his neigh empty prana reserves.

“Things are said to come in threes,” the creature said, “and a third opens the way into this tower.”

So he had succeeded in entering the half remembered tower. “The best is also said to be last.”

The creature paused, then the eyes on the side of it’s snout narrowed. “A bold claim, irregular.”

“I’ve always needed to eat more fibre.” Archer replied, a grinning facade creeping over his features.

“A comedian then.” The creature said, his body relaxing. With a theatrics spin of his staff to his other side, he held the staff horizontally behind him, and have a half bow.“Welcome to the tower, joker. I am Headon, guardian of the first floor of the tower. What is your name?”

A guardian of the first floor, someone to protect against invaders? “Me, I am simply an archer.” Archer said, buying time to think. Two others can come here before him, and they must have been impressive to arrive here. Furthermore, he was irregular, implying that a sort of regular existed. 

“A profession is not a name.” Headon rebutted, the end of his staff hitting the ground to punctuate the sentence.

He was not a known heroic spirit, so his name should not be a large vulnerability. “Call me Emiya.”

“Very well Mr. Emiya.” Headon replied. “Welcome to the Tower, where all that you may desire resides. If I may be so bold, what do you climb for?”

“Freedom,” Archer responded immediately. Then he cursed his honesty not a second later. This was not the time to leak information, not when he had so little. Old habits of operation security snapped back into place after an eternity of not needing them.

“Freedom, such a simple desire.” Headon said, his voice growing amused. “Well then, if it’s freedom you seek, climb to the top of this tower. Of course, you first have to pass my test.”

“What test?” Archer asked, dropping his centre of mass and stretching his senses.

“A test, to see if you are fit to continue to the next floor.” Headon explained, walking towards one of the engravings on the wall. Archer moved to keep the guardian in sight. “Every floor will have one, to gate the top of the tower from those to weak to deserve it. Now, for my third test of today, I must choose the best, no?”

“That is how that saying works.” Archer said, “Though would the best test not be the most fair?”

Headon paused on his way to the murals. “I suppose that is true, but you’ll have to do with this.”

At that, Headon tapped his staff to the carving. With a ripple, the stone relief faded. Behind was a chamber filled with blue air that swirled like water. A swarm of indistinct green and black shapes shot through the air, too fast for even Archer’s eyes to get a clear image. Headon let Archer watch the scene for a moment, before grabbing something behind his back. Archer leapt back immediately, putting distance between himself and Headon.

“Peace Mr. Emiya,” Headon say with mirth, holding aloft a sphere covered in paper tags.“I am not your test. Instead you must acquire this pocket from the Shirnae chamber.”

“I assume that is the room filled with fast bugs behind you?” 

“Indeed, good work Mr. Emiya.” Headon said, the front of his face opening to reveal sharp teeth. “The creatures come from the thirty third floor, living in a similar density of Shinsoo you would expect to find there. Begin whenever you feel ready.” With a soft lob, the sphere travelled into the space. The Shirnae immediately swarmed the sphere before dispersing back into fast ricocheting behaviour.

A swarm of creatures from a ‘Shinsoo’ dense environment. Assuming that the air like substance he was siphoning prana from was this ‘Shinsoo’, then these creatures would be from a prana rich ecosystem. Archer didn’t want to bet that he could simply ignore their attempts to kill him. Despite being a servant, his stats weren’t great to begin with and he was only barely maintaining his body. To exacerbate the issue, he didn’t have any prana to trace a weapon either.

Archer leaned down and picked up a small stone off the ground. With a toss he lobbed it into the compartment. In two seconds, the creatures had swarmed it and scattered back into a loose swarm. He then went and gathered another handful of other small stones. Headon hummed, but didn’t interfere with Archer’s actions. The next experiment had three stones thrown. This time the creatures swarmed them each, but instead of retreating to the edges of the room, they moved between the rocks. Competitive behaviour, if Archer judged correctly.

“A more thoughtful irregular, how odd…” Headon muttered, just at the edge of Archer’s healing. 

“Perhaps expecting uniformity among irregulars is a mistake?” Archer said, mind focused on the bugs.

Headon seemed to chuckle, before catching himself. “Careful Emiya, not all guardians will enjoy such cheek.”

This time, four stones, but two sent later. Most of the bugs remained on the stones they were attacking, but those furthest from the stones immediately sped to attack the next two stones. Still less then a full quarter, but not as effective as he had hoped. Still a new data point. Perhaps the insects were of a smarter than he anticipated.

As a final probe into the creature’s abilities and actions involved accurately hitting one of them with a stone. His eye’s twinged as he focused on one of the creatures. Skills bolstered by his class slid into place and he saw the creature clearly. It was twelve centimetres long, with four neon green wings across it’s length. At it’s thorax was a pair of slightly glowing curved mandibles. With a heave, Archer launched the small stone into the creature’s body.

With a small crack, the stone pierced through the creature’s central tagma, leaving the bisected viscera to be feasted upon by the other Shirnae. That stone had not been enchanted in the slightest and still managed to kill one of this species. The creatures weren’t of individual threat then. Archer relaxed his eyes, and sat down cross legged. If he could absorb enough prana here, tracing Tokiomi’s mystic code would be enough to clear the way. Since he couldn’t he would need to get creative.

“Mr. Emiya, this test has a time limit. A minute remains.” Headon said, interrupting Archer’s musing.

With a burst of movement, Archer launched three sets of four stones through the barrier. Before the first stone hit the ground, he burst into a low sprint. The creatures broke up ahead of him, swarming after the distractions. Only for him to come bursting through the barrier. The sudden prana rich air invigorated him, adding to his reserves. The energy caused him to stumble and allowed the Shirnae to swarm him directly. 

His skin broke under their swarm of bites, and his blood began to leak down his body. Ignoring his injuries, he dived for the sphere. Archer felt his leg get torn through by several of the bugs, with red agony driving it’s way into his mind. His leg crumpled on his next step, causing him to fall to the ground. With a roll, the servant cast a hand out for the pocket and grabbed it. With an immediate sense of disorientation, Archer fell through the ground. Then he wasn’t in the cave at all.

He was in a field of golden flax as far as he could see, with few remarkable landmarks from his position. Other than a few rocky outcrops and ruined buildings, the only notable thing was the large floating building at least seven kilometres from the ground. The air was richer with prana here, not nearly enough to even begin to fight as a servant, but more that the bare minimum he needed to sustain himself. 

Archer channelled what little prana he could actively spare to regenerate his leg. While the spirit body rebuilt itself, the sphere he grabbed from Headon’s little test began to pull ambient prana as well. Archer kept the sphere at arm’s length, letting it lay on the ground beside him. Normally he would launch the pocket as far as he could, but he dared not disrupt the regeneration of his left leg. The slips of paper slowly began to have glowing runes emergence from them.

With a sudden burst of prana from within the pocket, Archer felt something akin to a familiar bond try and force itself on him. If he stalled the healing of his leg, he could dedicate the diminishing reserve of prana to reject the connection. Which would still leave him injured in unfamiliar territory. Momentary indecision made the decision for him, as the bond forced past his, honestly pitiful, magic resistance. The moment the bond formed, it tried to fade away into the background of his mind. With some half remembered lessons about familiar magecraft, Archer forced the bond to stay in the forefront of his mind.

Simultaneously, the papers fell away to reveal a mat black orb. It rested in the ground innocolously. With a twinge, Archer attempted to order it to move. Surprisingly, it obeyed immediately. With a small swirl of displaced not air, the sphere floated up about twenty centimetres. Archer pressed a small mote of prana down the newly forged link, and with great reluctance, analysed it. The pocket appeared to be a simple clock slash mystic phone with a few commands designed to be activated verbally.

With a moment’s focus, Archer tried to non verbally command the sphere to turn ‘invisible’ if his understanding was correct. Without fanfare, the sphere shimmered before turning translucent then transparent. The curious thing was benign as far as he could tell, and could absorb its needed prana independently. Unfortunately, the familiar didn’t seemed designed to siphon that energy back to it’s master, but it’s function as a phone and clock was useful.

A voice called out in the air, “Mic test! Mic test, one, two!”

Welcome regulars, to the second floor of the tower! Evankell’s floor, also known as the floor of tests because we test if you are even qualified to go up to tower!” The voice continued in a masculine and cheerful tone. “First test begins now! It’s simple, there are four hundred regulars here, just reduce that number to 200! Try any and every means possible! The test ends when two hundred remain!”

A combat trial then. Archer lifted himself into a low crouch, slowly testing it’s strength. The limb had healed sufficiently for combat, if not comfort. Moving on, he focused on his surroundings while reaching into the Unlimited Blade Works. He needed a cheap blade to trace that he could use effectively. Something capable of fighting at the level of servants without being a noble phantasm. Immediately Berserker's stone axe came to mind, but it was too heavy for him to wield without reinforcement. Followed by the Azoth Sword given to Kirei. No, that weapon was used to serve as a battery for prana more then it’s edge.

Finally he found a usable weapon. Capable of parring blows from Excalibur, without any special qualities of its own. A wraith’s weapon, used for a technique that transcended space. More expensive than any normal weapon, and even costly by the metric of mystic codes. Yet cheaper by far then even the cheapest noble phantasm. 

An arrow interrupted him before he could muster the prana to trace his weapon. It caught him in the thigh. While it failed to punch through his armour, it did make his weak leg buckle. The foe was behind him, wielding the equivalent of an English longbow if the force was any indication. Archer rolled to the side, moments before another arrow hit the space he just voided. 

Rising back to his feet, Archer dashed to the side. Another trio of arrows chased after him. With each shot, his opponent got a better read on his speed. Archer held his right hand out and allowed the last of his prana to pool in his hand. With a burst of speed, the wrought iron hero changed course to charge straight at his grey skinned opponent. 

She fired another pair of arrows. Archer threw his outstretched arm up, and in a burst of blue motes a long katana formed in the way of the projectiles. The cheap wooden arrows splintered off the steel. The regular’s face twisted into panic as she scrambled back into the long stalks of golden wheat. The servant followed after her, catching up quickly.

Archer moved to stab at the woman, only to overextend. She took advantage of the lapse to sidestep and continue fleeing. He let her escape, letting out a frustrated sigh. He kept his guard up while he moved through the field. Using structural analysis to copy skills from the blades he wields costed prana he didn’t have to spare. Not an issue if he could only trace Kanshou and Bakuya, or even the arrows to make use of his bow. 

Tracing Assassin’s Monohoshi Zao had been a mistake. While using the blade was still his most efficient weapon for a single fight, or when he could recover his energy between fights, he hadn’t used the blade enough to have any facsimile Assassin’s skills for his own. While Assassin’s style followed his owns lack of rigid stances, it was with a blade far longer than any he had used seriously. Without access to prana to paper over his inexperience, he wouldn’t be able to fight on the level of servants.

Although, in hindsight, perhaps he had been hasty to consider his opponents on the level of servants. The huntress had been nowhere near the accuracy or speed of his old master, let alone an actual servant. The arrows had been normal wood with a sharpened tip. Which handily explained why it failed to pierce his carbon fibre mystic code armour. Still, no need to get into combat. Instead he could stay away from conflict, preserve prana. It would allow let him avoid shedding any needless blood. That would be nice.

The stalks of wheat ahead of him split to reveal a clearing with two fighting warriors. The first was nearly two metres tall with a large trunk like club, swinging in a mad rage at an athletic brunette with a large meat cleaver like sword. The club had left large swaths of dirt upturned that the swordswoman struggled to navigate while still avoiding the giant’s attacks. Archer began to move forward towards the fight, keeping himself low to the ground and his sword outstretched.

As Archer neared, the young woman managed to lunge forward and pierced the giant’s chest. The large girth of the cleaver blade opened a wide whole through the man. The beast let out a loud roar, and slammed it’s club down on the brunette. The blow forced the woman to leave her weapon behind and she leapt to the side of the blow. With a thunderous thud, the club drove itself into the soft soil. Despite the blood leaking rigorously out of the giant’s chest, he pulled his club out of the ground with an easy strength. 

Before the fight could escalate, Archer drove his laundry pole sword into the giant’s neck. The blade slid easily into the flesh, and got stuck between two vertebrae. With a forward step, the blade passed all the way through the creature’s neck. Much like a puppet, the creature collapsed forward. The woman backed off from Archer, her body language split between running and charging. Archer kept her in the corner of his eye while he rolled the soon to be corpse onto it’s front. The woman’s large cleaver blade was still wedged into the creature.

Using his legs, Archer lifted the heavy blade in his off hand. “Here, you lost this,” He said, tossing the blade to the woman.

She caught the blade in her right hand. “Thank you for your help.” The woman said, tilting her hand in his direction. “You saved me some effort.”

“Just happy to meet a fellow user of impractical swords,” Archer deflected with a lazy grin. 

“Oi, my sword is half as long as yours, so what if it’s a little bit chunky.” She replied with surprising bitterness.

Archer held his hands in faux surrender, “Alright, alright, I wont talk about your sword’s weight.”

“Damn straight!” The woman said, sheathing the blade in a cloth loop across her back. “I’m Eun, you are?”

“You can call me Emiya.” Archer replied.

“Well, the pleasure is all mine Emiya. Now since you saved me a few minutes of effort, I think I’ll let you go without a fight.” Eun gave a cocky smile, “You’re welcome by the way.”

“Such a gracious host you are my lady,” Archer shot back, with the embers of a grin sparking to life.

“Why, it’s so nice to finally be appreciated.” Eun laughed, her eyes shining in the light. “The administrator said two hundred people got to pass right?”

“I do seem to recall him saying that. Perhaps you’ll be able to join me?” Archer said, a lightness in his voice and spirit.

“What confidence!” Eun mock yelled, mirth dripping from her voice. “Now I have to drag you up with me, just to rub your face in it.”

“Oh I’m sure you’ll do that. With me at your side, nothing will stop you.”

Eun broke out laughing, tears leaking out of her eyes. “Man, Emiya, dude, I needed that laugh.”

“I live to serve my lady.”

“Oh, so you know how to service a lady?”

“I dare say no one better exists.” Archer shot back. He walked up beside the brunette and offered his elbow. “Shall we claim victory, Eun?”

“Emiya, you sweet talker.” Eun replied, stepping ahead of Archer. “Keep that arm free to swing you overcompensation.”

A surprised chuckled broke out of Emiya’s mouth. “They say the skill with which you swing matters more.”

“They say that to save the feelings of lonely swordsmen.” Eun snarked back.

“So you must have heard that a lot.” 

Eun gave a small gasp. She spun around to reveal her slacked jawed face. Archer felt his face shift into a cutting grin. He continued to march forward, keeping his ears alert for enemies. His new friend followed his motion with her head, stunned speechless. 

“You didn’t just,” She began, only to lose steam and start over, “How can you just say that?”

“Lifetime of practice, and a complete lack of shame.” Archer paused for a moment, hearing something at the edges of his hearing. “Now eyes up, someone is approaching.”

Eun sobered up immediately, drawing her cleaver into a loose guard. Her eyes roamed the tall stalks around them. Archer held his two and a bit metre sword to the side, trying to track their fleet footed foe. Cracking stalks and shuffling cloth, to the left and much closer than before. With a nudge of his elbow, he brushed against Eun’s blade. When her attention snapped to his form, Archer nodded towards the left.

With a nod of understanding, Eun stalked into the brush. Archer crept to the left, and approached the target. Apparently the other regular noticed them, Archer mused as the short regular bolted directly towards him. Their foe blocked Archer’s first slash with metal covered bracers. Monohoshi carved a spiral of steel of the bracer as it dragged across the armour. 

From the blond’s flank, Eun emerged with a lunge. With a panicked energy, the unknown brawler lashed out with his other hand to deflect the blow. Archer took the opening to step around and slash at the back of their foe’s knees. Just as the blond jumped to avoid his attack, Eun stepped forward to deliver a powerful slash to his guts. Similar to Caster’s master, he tried to catch the blade between his knee and elbow in a lock.

Instead blood spilled forth and intestines spilled onto the ground. Archer stepped back and held his guard up. Eun instead caught the lapel of their foe and drew her blade across his neck. With a pained gurgle, the last of the foe’s air bubbled through his new orifice. The blood pooled around their feet as Eun dropped the soon to be corpse to the ground. Archer took a moment to peer around. In the distance, he saw a stone outcropping. A defensible location to wait out the remainder of the test. 

“Were there any others?” Eun asked dragging her blade against her pant leg. The loose black fabric absorbed the blood with ease and became just the slightest shade darker.

“No, he was alone. I did find a place where we wont be sneaked up on.” Archer said. “It would be a shame to be taken out by an assassin from behind.”

“Sounds like a plan, shall you take the lead?” Eun asked. “I'd just get us lost.”

“Very well then, stay to my left. I normally rest with my blade on the right.”

Eun agreed, and the two walked off. The field of golden stalks were a source of paranoia for the pair, causing them to keep a level of attention that killed any conversation before they occurred. Over the course of their journey, they found five dead regulars. Two where slain by arrows, and another by gunfire. The last two died of blood loss from injuries caused by blades if Archer knew blades.

His body was made of blades.

Another enemy chanced upon the pair, but was cut down in a flicker of Monohoshi. Archer’s first strike can sliced the bipedal reptile from navel to neck. She dropped her pair of rusted daggers onto the ground as she collapsed under her own weight. With a flicker of ennui, Archer stepped over his latest murder. To his left and slightly behind, Eun stabbed the body in the neck. The two of them continued towards the rocky outcropping. 

A single person rested on the outcropping, surrounding by half a dozen sprawled out people. With a quick glance, Archer found them to be mostly immobile. Not unconscious, but unable to move around. The person at the peak of the stone was a short, with close cropped red air. Their loose brown robe covered thick cloth with chain mail visible through the cuts on the fabric.

The figure noticed them almost immediately. They moved from their perch and slid down the face of the outcropping. Eun sneaked off to the left, hiding in the brush. Archer instead strode forward, keeping his blade out and obvious. The redhead landed on the ground with a soft sound, and waved at Archer. The gesture was kind, and welcoming, as far as Archer could tell.

“You’re late!” They yelled, their voice androgynous. “You almost missed the next part!”  
“What?” Archer asked, his eyes tracking their feet.

“The next part of the-”

“And stop!” the announcer from before returned with aplomb. “The first test is over! If you fight anyone you’ll be disqualified!”

“How did you know abou-” Archer began.

“The next test starts now!~” The announcer continued. “You have to make a team of three! Find any two other regulars and join up! You have five minutes starting…”

“Why were you waiting for-” Archer tried again.

“Now!” 

Eun slowly emerged from the brush line, while the redhead skipped up to Archer. Their voice was low enough that Eun couldn’t hear it. “I came to join the third Irregular, and I almost missed my chance because you were late!”

“So you knew we would come here?” Archer pressed. The redhead paused in responding long enough that Eun returned from her hiding place. It didn’t escape Archer’s notice that the newcomer kept his status as an Irregular hidden. Nor that they used his friend’s presence to discourage him from talking about it. There was clearly more to being an ‘Irregular’ than he knew.

“Yes, yes, I knew you would come. So I decided to try and join you. Needed a team after all.”

Eun raised an eyebrow, “What is a guide doing on the floor of tests?”

“I’m here to climb the tower as a regular, much like the two of you,” They said, sending a knowing look at Archer. 

“Do you have a name at least?” Eun asked, sheathing her sword. 

“My name is Jin Ryun, a pleasure to meet the two of you.” Jin introduced themselves. “Now are we teammates?”

“Sure!” Eun agreed instantly.

“Welcome to the team,” Archer said, hiding his own suspicion. “Do we need to do anything else?”

Jin simply stepped forward and linked arms with Archer and Eun. “The proctor forgot to tell us to be in contact when the five minutes were up, but he’ll be back to correct his mistake soon.”

“What makes you so sure?” Archer asked, returning his blade to spirit form. An advantage to tracing a servant’s weapon he supposed.

“Oh you have an inventory,” Jin said, before answering his question, “It’s in our fate, to receive a message that will clear the way. Any other Red Witch would be able to tell you more though…”

“Don’t pout, you are fine,” Eun said, bringing her other hand to ruffle Jin’s hair. “Together we can take whatever they’ll throw at us.”

“Stop that!” Jin whined, “I’m not a little girl any more!” Archer and Eun met each other’s eyes over Jin’s head, taking shared amusement from her embarrassment. Before archer could say something clever, they were interrupted.

“Ah regulars!” the proctor’s voice returned, sounding pained and breathless. “I seem to have forgotten how to tell you guys how to form teams! Just link up your bodies, arm in arm or any other combination, we aren’t picky!”

“How much longer do we have to form a team?” Archer asked, looking up at the sky.

“Don’t bother,” Jin replied, “The sky here isn’t that granular, you can’t tell the time by it’s colour or brightness. Also, about a minute I guess?”

The three chatting for a while after that. Archer carefully probed and discovered a couple interesting facts. First, the sky wasn’t naturally, but some sort of affection from it’s incredible scale. Second, Jin was part of a species called Red Witches, which were also known as guides. Finally, guides had some sort of ability to use clairvoyance of some kind to travel the Tower.

“And time! No one move! We’ll be bringing you up in a moment,” the announcement came suddenly. “We’ll bring you up momentarily.”


	2. Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archer grows closer to his new team, and begins to learn more of this mythical tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! Despite exams and work, I managed to get this chapter done only a few days late. Please enjoy :D

They were brought into a room with approximately a hundred and four people by his count. Most of the people were humans, but a few dozen of the non human humanoids were sprinkled throughout. The general attitude seemed to be tense, with some lingering suspicion in the air. Eun had taken to giving the stink eye to anyone getting close to her team, akin to a dragon over it’s hoard. Jin herself seemed entirely ignorant, if strangely insistent that they stand towards the entrance. 

As for himself? Archer felt at home in this atmosphere, similar to the attitude many of his hunts while he was alive. He gave half a mind to talking about nothing in specific, while keeping his eyes scanning the crowd. The only team to really catch his eye was the one with the three metre tall bipedal crocodilian, and two much smaller human teenagers. Perhaps the team with the swordsman with two long katanas could be interesting, but more likely that he carried the second as a backup weapon.

At the front of their little  atrium, two people were getting into a fight about something.  Archer honestly had missed whatever had set the two off on each other. The shouting was escalating and threats of violence were getting thrown around. A couple of their surrounding test takers tried to de-escalate the confrontation, but only managed to get shouted down by both sides. 

T hen a tall man in a black suit and white overcoat appeared and managed to break the conflict up in a matter of moments. Archer was too far away to hear the conversation  himself, but it seemed to be effective.  Archer took a moment to size up the new blond. He had a sense of confidence around him that set him apart from the others, and seemed to exert a form of pressure on the air around him.  Not quite the sensation of enacting magecraft, but not dissimilar either.

“Jin, do you have any idea who that is?” Archer asked, nudging the short redhead.

“I’m not a Lightbearer,” she grumbled, before peering at the man. “Although, in this case, I know this guy. He’s Lero Ro, a relatively famous ranker that works for Evankhell.”

“No way,” Eun whispered, “What is a ranker doing wasting their time on us?”  
  


“He’s the test administrator, or at least, that’s what his job is.”Jin shrugged. “Not like there are many other reasons a ranker would be allowed to interact with us on the floor of tests.”

“Do we need to know anything about his technique?” Archer asked, keeping half an eye on the ‘Ranker’.

“I don’t think the test will be to fight him.” Jin replied, “The rules of the tower means that they have to be fair.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Eun agreed. “Even if he held back, no one here could pass if that was the test.”

“Okay! Can I get your attention over here!” Lero shouted. He leapt up onto a raised stage. “Please focus over here! I’m here to explain the next round of tests! First, let me introduce myself. I am the test proctor, and ranker, Lero Ro.” His voice was infectiously happy. “Nice to meet ya!”

“You’ve had your chance to rest, it’s about time to go to the next test. Well, it’s more of pre-test! Like the others, if you don’t pass this test, you are out! No second chances, no appeals! Don’t worry, it’s a really simple test, barely even a test at all! Relax,”

“Take a step back,” Jin whispered, pulling at Archer’s and Eun’s sleeves. They obeyed without complaint.

“And let’s begin,” Lero said, lowering his voice. The air moved as he extended his hand, swirling with it’s prana-like nature. With a sudden extension of his fingers the air cracked. A field of brilliant blue crashed outward, throwing those in it’s way back. Eun ducked under a particularly light fellow, while Archer hefted Jin and hopped over a rolling man wrapped in a blanket. The barrier sped until it came to to rest right in front of them.

“A step back huh?” Eun asked, giving Jin a look.

“Yep,” Lero Ro said, answering a question that Archer didn’t catch, “I created a barrier of Shinsoo. I compressed the Shinsoo down and pushed you all out. Shinsoo is everywhere in the tower, providing us with water and letting us breathe. When concentrated down, it becomes a powerful weapon. All the regulars in the tower use Shinsoo to fight.”

“However, some people can’t handle it. Adverse reactions, as minor as allergies or something more crippling. An invisible chain that just gets heavier the further you climb.” Lero Ro paused for a moment, looking out at the gathered regulars. “In other words, people who can’t handle shinsoo are not valid candidates to be in the Tower.”

“Those who can pass through my barrier at least don’t have adverse reactions to shinsoo. So the teams that pass through pass this test, while those that can’t fail. Now, come on through!”

“Wait!” someone yelled, “What if one of your teammates can’t pass through the barrier!”

“It should be obvious, that team fails.” Immediate shouting broke out at that proclamation. People clamouring about the test being unfair, based entirely on luck.

Eun just sighed and shrugged, “Well, I know that our little guide can handle this, you feeling up to this Emiya?”

“The barrier isn’t that strong, barely an inconvenience.” Archer replied, noticing a brown haired teenager that hadn’t been thrown back by the barrier. He had a rapier like weapon wrapped in cloth and a red vest. One of the crocodilian’s teammates. 

“Of course it isn’t,”Jin replied, “the test has to be _passable_.”

Someone in the shouting said something that  caused Lero Ro to raise his voice. “Hey, what do you even think the most important trait in the tower is?”

No one answered him, keeping silent. He continued, “It’s luck. The luck of having a strong body, the luck of being rich, the luck of being intelligent, the luck of saving your teammates, the luck of escaping death. The only reason you even got this far is because you were lucky. Then you go and say it’s unfair to test luck?”

“Stop whining and just take the test, _regulars_.”

Eun laughed, a big grin on her face. “I like this guy, Lero right? He’s fun.”

Archer turned his attention to the kid, Bam if he overheard the proctor correctly.  He was unassuming, but seemed to smell of crisp winter air. Well, give of a mystical aura  Archer's sensed as crisp winter air.  Some how completely unaffected by the barrier.  The only thing to spring to mind was the  magic resistance skill .  The kid didn’t  feel like a servant, but his aura was  certainly different then everyone else’s.  Likely one of the other two irregulars that preceded him . Best to keep an eye on him.

H is two allies strode ahead, passing through the barrier. Eun stumbled a touch,  her stride clipped by the force of the barrier. Jin slid through without effort.  T he barrier rippling around  their passage. Others walked through with varying degrees of effort. Some managed to make it past without notice while others leaned heavily against the barrier only to slide down the surface as if it were solid.  It was odd, different from any bounded field he seen.

Shinsoo wasn’t prana, even if it was similar enough to mana for him to subside on. The ability to enact mysteries using shinsoo external of the body was a potential method to power his own tracing, or at least use  _some_ form of magecraft.  N one of the shinsoo in the barrier  appeared linked to the proctor.  Despite the lack of active effort to maintain the mystery, it remained as powerful as it had begun as.  That trick alone would let him keep his  tracings around between engagements. Monohoshi Zao would only linger for a day.

“Nerves Emiya? What happened to ‘barely an inconvenience’?” Eun taunted, a smile on her face. “Or do you see something you like, hmm?”

“Hardly, just enjoying the quiet.” Archer said, moving his gaze back to his teammates. “Had I known you were so desperate for me, I wouldn’t have tarried.”

“Enough bantering, and just get a move on.” Jin cut in, rolling her eyes. “People are talking about you.”

“Oh? Eavesdropping?” Archer probed.

“Hardly, they are needlessly loud.” Jin shrugged.

Archer chuckled and walked through the barrier. The energy relaxed in his passage, becoming loose as it neared his body. Once he was through, the glanced backwards to see the barrier behind him borrowing concentrated shinsoo from the greater whole. So his magic resistance actually had an effect on shinsoo.

“Well, that was anticlimactic.” Archer said, rolling his neck.

“He did say it was more of a pre-test.” Eun replied.

“It’s a fair enough test, Headon doesn’t always choose powerful people as regulars.” Jin said, “It would explain why some people can’t even pass this test.”  
  


“Fair enough. When do you think we’ll move on?” Archer asked, gazing back over the regulars who passed. This time a few others caught his eye, a short green skinned girl with a thick tail, and the previously sleeping man that immediately began to take a nap.

“This is bullshit!” A tall grey skinned regular shouted. He pounded on the barrier, sending ripples across its surface. “I am the strongest regular here, why should I fail when that kid gets to pass by luck! Why should I get eliminated?! I’m so much stronger than that little string bean.”

The man petered off when Lero Ro marched up to him through the barrier.  Once he was face to face with the shorter man, he sneered and continued to rant; “I’m sick of your fucking bullshit. You think you’re hot shit just because you are some ‘ranker’. Look at how tiny and flimsy you are! You must be weak to rely on this bullshit test!”

Lero broke out into a slightly manic laugh; “This was my last mercy, and you can’t even see it. Lord, how stupid can you be?”

A silence dragged for a moment, before Lero continued, “Fine! Then I’ll just teach you the harsh way, so  _even_ _you_ can understand. Understand the powers that lie at the crown of this tower.” Archer felt a spike of  crispy energy press against the shinsoo, saw sparks of energy arc off the ranker. “ There is  _no_ limit to shinsoo. You can obtain immortality. Rumours even say Enryu the Notorious can create life using it. However, we all have our own limits.”

The pressure magnified  many fold on the complaining regular, kept incredibly localized. Even just the run off of dense shinsoo double d the rate he was harvesting prana by breathing.  Lero continued his monologue, “When faced with the infinite, people discover their limits and fall into despair. That shinsoo barrier was my last show of mercy, before you fall into deeper despair further up. Those who don’t qualify,”

“ _Should get lost!_ ” 

Archer smothered a wince, watching the regular tear up in pain and collapse convulsing.  The mystery was similar in result to a bounded field, but seemed to rely entirely on the natural behaviour of shinsoo.  Lero Ro’s words were too quiet to hear over the crackle of his shinsoo manipulation. It must have been devastating, because the regular ceased struggling and just rested on the ground.  The ranker just sighed, and marched back to his spot beside Bam. 

“Is Headon a sadist?” Archer asked, “To pick people only for them to suffer?”

“I thought that was obvious?” Jin replied, “did he not feel sadistic when he chose you?”

“You know, in hindsight, I think he was.” Archer said.

“Hey, we should stand over by that doorway,” Jin said, jerking her head towards the passageway nearest to them.

“Of course, oh glorious oracle,” Eun said, hugging the shorter woman into her side. Archer followed the two with mirth. The doors were opening when they neared the passage way, and a Jin sized woman came through in a black and yellow stripped dress. 

“Regulars! Form a line here!” She said, “The next test will be done one at a time! You’ll enter and have ten minutes to complete the test!” The regulars were already moving to form a line behind Archer’s team, with them at the head. The proctor continued, “Alright, Emiya, Eun and Jin, you’re first.”

J in ignored the proctor trying to lead them,  instead brushing past her and leading the ir team towards a set of large wooden doors.  She pushed  the doors open with a burst of speed, causing them to fly open. The inside of the room was a mat black that gave the illusion of an endless void, with  twelve doors at the far end of the room. Sitting between their entrance and the fourteen doors was a tall man with long blond hair, drinking coffee out of an expensive tea set.

“Welcome regulars.” The man said, sitting on his knees as he enjoyed his drink. “I am the test proctor Hansung Yu. I’m normally just a test director, but this time I will be directly in charge of this test. The test is very simple. There are currently twelve doors. All you have to do is find the true door and leave this room.”

“So just go through this ‘real’ door? That’s it?” Archer asked.

“Yes, it’s very simple. Find the real door and open it within ten minutes, and you pass.” The ranker in his voluminous robes, gave a sharp smile. “Be careful, because if you open a wrong door, you’ll die.”

“But do you need to sound so happy about that?” Archer said.

“There are no more hints, the test star-” Hansung cut himself off. “You are quite impudent for a regular, you know that?”

“I think that’s why Headon chose me,” Archer lied. He turned around, looking at the door he had entered. It was also mat black, almost seamless with the walls. Without his servant body, he might not have noticed the door’s position at all. Above the door was a dead analogue clock. Slightly odd position for it, but perhaps it was for the proctor to track time.

“Very well regulars, time starts now!” Hansung said, clapping his hands together. In sync, the clock on the wall began to count time. 

“Well, shall we?” Jin asked gesturing to the doors at the other end of the hall. “I’ll handle this test for us, if you can do the next?”

“Of course, I’m not interesting in this sneaky stuff anyway.” Eun shrugged, “Not like there is anything fun for me to smack around.”

“Appreciate the assist.” Archer said. Jin offered her two teammates a glowing smile and led them to the middle most set of doors. As the servant neared, the bitter smell of coffee burnt at his nose. The doors seemed to be dripping prana, all the doors identical. Behind them, Hansung sighed in delight after finishing his coffee. Jin opened the door on the left, revealing a plain hallway.

“Congratulations on passing.” Hansung said from the middle of the room. The door closed on it’s own, and the scent of coffee tripled in intensity. Some sort of enchantment on the door then, thought one thoroughly foreign to Archer. The hallway ahead of them led directly into a large antechamber, with benches lining the sides of the room.

“We’ll have to wait for everyone else? How boring.” Eun whined. She sat down directly beside the wall, slouching against the hard, slightly plastic, surface.

“I suppose being first has it’s downsides, but this is the best fate for us.” Jin shrugged. “We’ll have the longest time to rest for the next test.”

Did Jin know about his ability to siphon shinsoo into his own reserve of prana? “You never really explained  how  your  clairvoyance worked.”

“It’s hard to explain, I’ve only had it for a year.” Jin said, sitting down beside Eun. “Like the Silver Dwarves, the Red Witches-”

“Hey, wait.” Eun said, “I don’t know any of these secret groups or anything.”

“It’s not surprise, I doubt many people outside of the rankers know about Silver Dwarves. They are guides with sworn loyalty to Jahad, serving his princesses.”

Archer frowned, noting the name Jahad for future reference. A political power with a group of clairvoyants was concerning. Even if the monarchy only had three princesses, that was three clairvoyants this ‘Jahad’ could leverage.  Furthermore,  he had a feeling that these princesses weren’t  mere political figurehead.

“And they are like you? Able to see the future?” Eun asked, tilting her head.

“Different in some way, I’m not sure how thought. I’m mostly self taught about my clairvoyance; which is a really good word, thanks Emiya. Back to the topic though, I can feel fate. Most people have maybe two or three fates they could tread, whether ranker or regular.”

“Sort of like an overview of a life’s turning points, such as if they betray their ideals or keep loyal to them?” Archer asked. A melancholy flame sparked in his chest, thought he ignored it with long practice.

“That sounds close to how it feels, but I’m not sure if that’s right.” Jin sighed, staring up at the ceiling, “You should ask a properly trained witch if you wanted to know.”

Eun leaned off the wall, and onto Jin’s shoulder. “Why would I want those witches? _Y_ _ou’re_ my teammate.”

Jin gave Eun a brilliant smile at her words, “ Glad to be a here.”

A rcher leaned his back against the wall and crossed his arms. “Alright, so we wanted to be first in that last test to have more time before the next, because the next test is a turning point?”

“We need a punchier name for them,” Eun said.

“Well, I called them knots before now, but that feels silly.” Jin said, before turning to look at Archer. “A lot of fates are tied up in the next test, and it could go wrong.”

“Well our foes will certainly be upset at our success,” Archer said, a small grin pulling at his lips. 

“I’m going to be less useful in that test,” Jin admitted, her voice hesitant and downtrodden, “all I can do is forewarn you and set you up.”

“Don’t worry, you handled the last test easily, somehow.” Eun said, loosing steam halfway through her sentence.

“I’m still a guide, knowing the route is fairly simple.”

“Well, I’ll take advantage of the resting opportunity, I’ve been running on fumes for a while now.” Archer said, closing his eyes. “Good work Jin.” Archer began to breath deeply, pulling in more of the shinsoo each breath. Even if taking a deeper breath took longer, the extra shinsoo he absorbed more than made up for the extra time. 

Time passed slowly, with Eun and Jin speculating about the next test. Archer spoke up occasionally, but tended to focus on his breathing to build his reserves. Monohoshi Zao was still astralized on his back, in decent condition. The degradation was slower while the blade was in spirit form, for the same reason a servant needed less prana while astralized. By the time the following groups began to filter into the waiting area, Archer had enough prana to fight at closer to his human peak. 

The first few groups to enter didn’t require any attention from Archer specifically, so he let his partners pay attention to them while he meditated. Until the familiar smell of crisp winter air floated across his senses. Archer’s eyes snapped open, and he made direct eye contact with Bam. The young man seemed to be intimidated by Archer’s  sudden action , so  he relaxed his posture and smile d invitingly.

The brunet smiled in return and walked up to where Archer and his team were resting. Bam’s team, the crocodilian of great height and the young man with  white-blue hair and blue decorations, seemed to protest against the action, but Bam didn’t seem to care for their opinions. Instead he extended his hand to Archer and adopting completely non threatening body language. 

“Hi, I’m Bam, who are you?” Bam said, his voice soft.

“I’m Emiya, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Archer said, “this is Jin and Eun.”

“Hey kid,” Eun said, waving slowly.

“Oh, right, this is Khun and Rak,” Bam said, gesturing to his human teammate then the crocodilian.

Rak grunted something and sat down a fair distance from Archer and his team. Khun on the other hand rolled his eyes and stepped forward to offer his own handshake. Jin leaned forward to shake his hand, drawing Khun’s attention from Archer. Bam just plopped down beside Archer with a smile, leaning his cloth wrapped sword on the wall beside him.

“Do you know how many took the test before you guys?” Archer asked. “At least twelve had to, given the ten minute limit, but more could have come through.”

“Uh, I think it was like twenty I guess?” Bam said, sounding unsure. “I guess the four teams here are the only ones who passed?”

“Twenty percent,” Archer muttered, before turning to face Bam. “Must be your ‘luck’ again, to pass here.”

“What, I’m not lucky, I have no idea what you are talking about.” Bam stammered, waving his hands in front of his face.

“Just parroting a certain ranker you may remember.” Archer said, failing to smile comfortingly. Thankfully, Bam didn’t seem to pick up on how forced the expression was.

“Yeah, Lero had that kind of impression.” Bam paused, before turning to the side, “Pocket, visible mode, time.” At his words, his own black mat orb appeared floating in the air. It displayed **15:33** , in plain white typeface.

“Worried climbing the tower will cut into your personal time?”

“What?” Bam asked, turning back to Archer with a blank look.

“Nothing, just joking around, don’t worry about it Bam.” Archer waved away, before gesturing towards Bam’s weapon. “Fancy yourself a swordsman of some kind?”

“No, no, I just borrowed this from a… friend.” Bam said, his voice unsteady.

“Mind if I take a look at it?”

“Ah, no!” Bam said, his voice stronger than Archer had heard it before. His outburst drew attention from their combined teammates, which drew a blush from the young man. “They trusted me with it, and I don’t want to give it up.”

“Don’t worry, just something of a sword hobbyist. I’m not going to ogle your sword without permission.” Archer said, leaning backwards. Eun snickered behind her hand, and Khun sent him a raised eyebrow. “You can save it for your special friend, I wont pressure you.”

“Ah thank you Mr. Emiya,” Bam said, nodding deeply in his direction. 

“For a hobbyist, you don’t seem to carry around a blade,” Khun pushed, his voice thorny.

A rcher chuckled and held his hand overtop his shoulder and held Monohoshi Zao’s hilt. While unsheathing the blade, he returned it to physical form. By the time his hand was fully in front of him, the blade had just finished manifesting. The crocodilian, Rak if he remembered correctly, sat up in interest, while Bam had a look of awe cross his face.

“My blade at your demand, Khun.” Archer said, before smirking, “Most at least buy me dinner first.”

K hun snorted, a hint of amusement underneath the steel. “ An impressive blade at that,  can you even wield it at that length?”

“Actually, why do you even carry a blade that long? Wouldn’t it be better to carry a spear by that length?” Jin asked, turning her attention back to Archer. 

“A… respected foe died wielding it.” Archer said, turning the laundry drying sword in his grip. The blade reflected the off orange light of the room like flame crossed oil.

“Sounds like a good hunt,” Rak said, his voice deep and filled of stone. “Red turtle, tell me of this foe.”

“Sure,” Archer shrugged. “He had lived long before I met him, but I met him as a foe trying to pass through a gate he guarded. He wore a purple kimono, and fought with Monohoshi Zao,” At this, he shifted his grip on the blade into a firmer position. “Despite it’s unruly length, he flowed through combat as a wave. His grace and prediction were greatly used to parry my blows and he was more skilled with his blade.” Archer closed his eyes, focusing on the memory. “He was killed by another, our fight a mere skirmish of the war that followed.”

“You were a soldier?” Khun asked, his voice seemingly light.

“Not truly, I was being more poetic than literal.” Or at least, the creators of the Heaven’s Feel ritual felt poetic when they called it a war. “It’s a masterfully made blade, used in a rather interesting manner. Enough so that I keep it around.” Archer lied. 

“You keep your overcompensation around _because_ it’s impractical?” Eun asked, “You are a weird guy Emiya.”

“I keep hearing that.” Archer laughed, scratching the back of his head. “I’ve just had an affinity for blades as long as I can remember.”

“I can’t judge, I’m the same way.” Eun laughed, reaching over Jin’s head to punch his shoulder. “So what about you Khun? Do you fight with that silly briefcase?”

“Perhaps, you’ll just have to find out wont you?” Khun replied, a charming smirk on his face. His leather briefcase was held slightly behind him, but it was in his off hand by Archer’s eye.

“Just full of mysteries eh? Maybe you’re more fun that I thought.” Eun said, shifting her posture to sit upright.

“I’m not the one with a guide for a teammate.”

“Ha, fair enough.” Eun laughed.

“Uhh, Mr. Emiya-” Bam said.

“Just Emiya will do fine,” Archer interrupted.

“Ah okay, Emiya,” Bam said, smiling. “Do you have an arms inventory too?”

“Something of the sort,” Archer said, patting Bam on the shoulder. “Get some rest kid, the next tests wont be getting any easier.”

“They weren’t that hard thought?” Bam asked, tilting his head.

A man in a purple tracksuit walked up with a chuckle, setting Khun and Archer on edge. “Spoken like a lucky person. I’m Shibisu, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Bam, nice to meet you Shibisu!” Bam replied.

“Who are your teammates here?” Shibisu asked, gesturing towards the group of six.

“Ah, this is Rak and Khun.” Bam said, gesturing.

“And my team is Jin and Eun,” Archer said, tilting his head towards the two. “You can call me Emiya.”

“Nice to meet you Emiya.” Shibisu said, offering handshake towards the servant.

“I’m sure it must be.” Archer joked, mirth springing from his words. “Which of the gathered people are your teammates?”

“Oh, that’s Anak and Hatsu,” Shibisu said, pointing towards an average height human swordsman with two katanas, and a green skinned humanoid with tail wielding a green hooked blade.

“You seem to be meshing poorly with them,” Archer observed, his mind a million miles away from this conversation. That green blade, it was _different_ somehow.

Shibisu nervously chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “It’s not all bad, they are powerful and reliable teammates.”

Khun was staring at Archer, while everyone else was focusing on Shibisu. Eun broke the awkward silence, “Well, that sucks. A good team is more than just powerful people you know?”

“Stupid!” Rak interrupted, his voice loud and grating, “Powerful people is super important. How else will you hunt? Stupid brown turtle.”

Jin immediately grabbed Eun around her midsection in a hug, preventing her from lunging at the large crocodilian. The action only seemed to prompt a laugh from Rak, who was staring down at Eun with contempt in his eyes. Bam himself was trying to diffuse the situation, while Khun watched Archer watching Anak.

“You guys are super lively,” Shibisu said, breaking the tension more effectively than Bam.

“Sign of a good team, having people who play off each other.” Archer said, paying only a fragment of his attention towards the conversation. “A team of six is useful, especially if we have chance to coordinate.”

“Is that why you talked us up? To form a team of six?” Khun asked.

“Well, seven I suppose, if we count Shibisu. A full set would be nice.”

“What do you mean a full set?” Bam asked, tilting his head slightly.

“I’m used to a seven person team; Saber, Archer, Lancer, Caster, Berserker, Assassin, Rider.” Archer replied, idly counting seven cross his fingers.

Before anyone else could speak, the ranker Lero Ro opened the far doors with a bang. “Regulars, I have great news! You are being invited to play in a set of intermission games!”

The atmosphere immediately grew incredulous, with everyone moving to stare at the ranker. Eventually Khun spoke, “Why would we participate, there is no benefit.”

“Well, of course there is a benefit! The winner of the game will be moved to the next floor as if they had passed all the tests.”

With blood in the water, the regulars stood up straight and paid attention to the ranker. Flash fires of disinteresting turning to  rapid interest spread quickly across the waiting room.  Lero Ro laughed at the sudden shift, his face taking the cast of someone playing with fire. Shibisu had left to talk with his team mates, while Archer’s and Bam’s teams remained close.

“So who wants to participate in our intermission game?” Lero Ro asked, laughing at the storm of shouts that rose in the wake of his question.

“We do,” Jin said, among the storm of voices. Archer just nodded at the short guide and tore his attention from Anak’s weapon.


	3. 3-Claim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The intermission game offered by Lero Ro begins with a battle to claim victory in the very first round. Fighting against Shibisu's team, Team Emiya attempts to claim an early victory.

“Hello regulars!” Lero Ro said, standing on the back of a large orange throne. “Welcome to our intermission games!”

Each of the teams had been separated into little outcroppings from the centre room, with bars forming a wall between the bullpen and the arena area. Lying on the throne, a simple golden crown rested. The main room was generously large, at least twenty metres in diameter. The room had lights built into the walls of the centre chambers, leaving the bullpens shrouded in shadows and darkness.

“You’ll be playing five rounds of the crown game!” Lero said, stepping off the tall back of the throne to stand in the wide seat. “Each round, you’ll have five minutes to fight over this crown!” At that, he kicked the crown up into his hands. “At the end of the round, whichever team holds the crown will win and move to the next round.”

“Careful though! Only five teams can play in each round, so if you try to join at the last minute you could end up cut out of the competition. On the other hand, the winning team needs to have one of their members stay on the throne, or they’re disqualified!” Lero hopped off the seat of the throne onto the ground, spinning the crown around a finger. “Of course, if you are doing really well, you could always end a round early. See, if someone managed to sit on the throne, with the crown atop their head;” Lero Ro flopped backwards into the throne, tossing the crown up such that it landed on his head. “The round immediately ends!”

“The full rules are in your rooms, so make sure to read them!” Lero said, returning the crown to the throne. “We’ll begin enrolment for the first round in a few minutes, so be ready!”

“So I guess we should go in at like round four or something?” Eun asked.

“Personally, I think going in on round two or even the first might be better.” Archer said, peering at the rules. “I’m pretty certain we can defeat the other teams every round.”

“Doesn’t that apply to any round though?” Eun said, leaning against the wall. “With the ten or so teams round four is a guaranteed entry.”

“We have the most control if we enter earlier; I think Emiya is valuing that more then the attrition of doing more rounds.” Jin said, sitting on a bench further back into the room.

“It’s more that the ultimate victory doesn’t matter.” Archer asked, “We can get away with losing, so we might as well use the opportunity to scout out our foes for the next tests.”

“I suppose?” Jin ventured, looking at Archer as if he grew a second head. “Do you not… _want_ to pass?”

“I don’t particularly need to win this game.” Archer shrugged. “The tests will be just as passable.”

“Man, Emiya, we should at least try.” Eun said, shoving her elbow into his side. “Don’t fail on purpose.”

“Of course not,” Archer replied, “just hedging my bets.”

“Okay Regulars!” Lero called from hidden speakers. “The next round begins in ten seconds! Press the large button to opt in!”

Jin leaned over to the wall to push the button. It depressed with a small click. Archer grabbed Monohoshi Zao from his back and deastralized the weapon. Eun gave him a smile and unsheathed her butchering sword. The bars shook and slowly began to rise. In the background, Lero Ro continued to count down. To his team’s right, Shibisu’s team entered from their preparation room, while across from the two teams a third team entered the central arena.

“Do we want to gang up on one particular dude?” Eun asked, idly twirling her blade.

“I suppose we could.” Jin replied, studying their opponents carefully. “If we do though, we could lose because another person got to the centre crown.”

“I’m going after Anak,” Archer said, “she’s one of the better combatants here.” Archer quickly looked over the other blades with a flicker of prana. They were decent blades to add to Unlimited Blade Works, but none of them had the kind of use to suggest someone who could challenge even Shirou.

“That makes sense, I suppose I can try and keep the crown away from the others.” Jin offered, nodding along.

“Then I guess I’ll play support and keep the two of you out of danger, as the token sensible person.” Eun said, patting Jin on the shoulder. “Jin probably has the more important role, right?”

Archer nodded along, trying to gauge how much prana he had to work with. Enough that his stats resembled a weak servant more than a strong human, but still quite far from his full potential. Beyond the prana used to anchor himself to the world, he had enough to trace a few mystic codes, or one particularly cheap noble phantasm. He doubted he could even trace Kanshou, let alone both halves of the married blades. Still, it was more prana than he had since arriving at the Tower.

“Regulars we start in, three!” Lero Ro’s voice came from the speakers. Hatsu, wearing his black shirt under his maroon robe, turned his attention towards Emiya, whilst Anak postured towards the third team. Archer let his mind focus on the experiences he harvested from Hatsu’s blades. He used the blades in concert for years. The High Flying and Low Flying swords were made with a foreign material known as ‘suspendium’ and its byproducts.

“Two!” The countdown continued. The Sword that Flies Higher Than Any was a red tasselled yedo; a long, thin, single edged sword sized to be wielded with two hands. It was made to be manipulated while flying through the air. The Sword that Flies Lower Than Any was a blue tasselled yedo with the ability to release blasts of shinsoo when swung with enough speed.

“One!” Hatsu was holding the sheath and hilt of the High Flying sword, and faced directly towards Archer. Anak was holding her green blade above her head and leaned towards the team of three dagger wielding strangers. Eun behind him was preparing to spring toward the centre of the room. Jin had slipped behind the two of them, keeping hidden from their foes.

“Start!” Lero Ro bellowed, obvious joy in his voice.

Archer burst forward, slashing at Hatsu’s chest. In the span of his charge, Hatsu was halfway through throwing his red blade up, and used it to block the slash. Behind Hatsu, Anak rocketed away. Hatsu broke the blade lock and threw the High Flying sword into the air. Archer switched his grip to swing the edge back across the swordsman's chest. Hatsu leapt back, trying to draw his Low Flying sword.

Blood beaded through the shallow cut cleft through Hatsu’s shirt. Archer let out a breath and took a careful step forward as Hatsu drew his primary blade. Swirling above the two of them, the red hilted High Flying sword loomed. Archer lunged forward into a stab, only for Hatsu to parry the blow and respond with his own slash.

Archer lifted the hilt of Monohoshi to catch the edge of Hatsu’s blade. To his surprise, the blow had surprisingly little power behind it. Instead of backing away to free his blade, Hatsu forced his blade to bite into Monohoshi Zao’s hilt. Archer let go of his sword with his off hand and reached forward to grab Hatsu’s shirt.

Hatsu tried to force Archer to back off with his two handed blade, but Archer held his katana steady. With a heave, Archer picked up Hatsu and threw him into the air. Diving down from above, the High Flying sword plunged into Hatsu’s shoulder with a light spray of blood. Putting aside Hatsu’s surprisingly low strength, Archer turned to survey the battlefield.

Jin was nowhere to be seen, but Archer did see Eun chasing Shibisu away from the throne. The Crown wasn’t in Shibisu’s hands, nor was it on the throne behind Eun. Anak’s blade had extended to twice the length of Monohoshi, but was moving more akin to a whip than any steel. The three unknown regulars surrounded the lizard as she moved with grace between blows. A snap of her wrist sent the green weapon speeding out to impale the taller regular.

Archer turned his attention back to Hatsu, unsurprised to see him pulling the High Flying blade out of his shoulder. The black haired boy tossed the red hilted blade back up as he fell to the ground. In his underestimation, Archer had thrown his opponent further than he intended. Archer carefully walked forward towards where the samurai would land.

“Blade that Flies Lowest,” Hatsu’s voice was quiet, carrying a sense of deliberate pacing. Archer leapt back, anticipating the technique to follow. As Hatsu’s back foot hit the ground, he swung his blade forward in a blue blur. In mimicry, a tight wave of blue shinsoo manifested from the steel and arched out in a devastating scythe. Rather than attempt to block or parry the Shinsoo, Archer threw himself into a forward roll and allowed the attack to sail overhead.

Rising from the roll, Archer parried Hatsu’s downward slash with a short cut from Monohoshi Zao. Sparks flew from the brief contact, and Hatsu stepped to the right. With Monohoshi’s awkward length, it was difficult to use effectively on the same side. Fervent attacks pushed this disadvantage, preventing the servant from regaining his footing. A smart move to negate the reach of Monohoshi.

Archer could have traced another weapon, something cheap to buy distance and tempo back. Another strike came from below, and caught Archer in the leg. The blade caught on his armour, biting into a material it couldn’t easily cut. Lashing out with a pommel strike, Archer cracked a rib and threw Hatsu back a half metre.

The distance helped immediately, allowing Archer to settle back into an even stance facing Hatsu. The regular was weaker than Archer, but was skilled enough to account for it. It honestly reminded him of Shirou. Using skill to overcome strength was the cornerstone of their fighting experience. It was good to discover that his armour was still strong even without the full amount of prana a servant needed. Otherwise, Archer would have been short most of a leg. Note to himself, he needed to acquire a pair of scimitars that were cheaper to trace than Kanshou without giving up their edge.

Emiya lunged forward, catching Hatsu just as he rose. His stab was caught on the flat of the Low Flying Sword, sending Hatsu down to a knee. Archer forced more pressure down, and tried to listen for the High Flying sword. He couldn’t hear the sound of steel swimming through air, so he should have time.

The High Flying sword sliced across the back of Archer’s head. Cold pain flashed cross his head a moment later, forcing a hiss from Archer’s lips. His body reacted immediately, dropping to the ground and reinforcing his head. Somehow, the blade had managed to get him by surprise. He rolled away from his position and clambered into a standing position.

Hatsu slowly rose to a standing position, letting his red hilted sword plant itself in the ground to his side. Archer released his sword with his right hand, feeling the back of his head. The wound was long, but shallow. He released a flutter of prana to clot the wound, just enough to prevent blood loss from disabling his body.

“That is one quiet blade.” Archer bantered. How had that blade been so quiet? It had no special features of enchantment or construction to allow it to pass through air without any noise.

“And you are quite quick with yours.” Hatsu said, releasing a hand from his grip to grab his red hilted sword.

“I’m blushing.” Archer lied, focusing on what he acquired from the High Flying sword’s copy in his soul. It used some amount of shinsoo manipulation to control it’s position while it was flying in the air. Wait, no. There was no air in the tower. _T_ _hat_ was why Archer couldn’t hear it coming. The same manipulation that controlled it’s position moved the shinsoo that would carry sound.

“Just honesty.” Hatsu smiled, slight as it was. “You are a skilled opponent, I am honoured to fight against you.”

Archer smiled at the swordsman, rolling his shoulders. The servant ran forward and attacked Hatsu. Again, the High Flying sword was sent flying up before Hatsu moved to block with his other weapon. With a shimmer of prana, he reinforced the edge of Monohoshi. With a shower of sparks, the enchanted blade cut through the Low Flying sword.

Myriad of emotions fluttered over Hatsu’s face, from disbelief to resignation. Archer’s body was dragged by Monohoshi Zao, using what little of Assassin’s skills he could without the grace and strength of his fellow servant. The blade flowed into his foe’s chest, drawing a deep wound. Blood spilled out from Hatsu’s chest, dripping down with a patter against the stone.

Archer sighed, releasing the reinforcement of his blade. Even that little enhancement to overcome the innate hardness of this ‘suspendium’ material was costly in his state. Prana spent to overcome the degradation of his blade wasn’t wasted, but it was still gone. Hatsu fell to a knee, pressing his arms against his chest wound. The blood flow slowed against the pressure, enough to buy minutes before he fell unconscious.

“Good fight, but stay down.” Archer said, his voice heavy with promise. “Don’t make me finish this.”

Hatsu nodded, but stayed quiet. Emiya turned his head to view the rest of the battle, staying alert of his defeated foe. Anak was pulling her blade from the chest of the last standing member of the unknown team. The other two were collapsed on the ground, likely dead or dying. Eun was fighting with Shibisu, trying to keep the unarmed man at bay, but failing more than she succeeded. The crown was missing, although Archer suspected either Shibisu or Eun had it.

Well, he had a promise to keep. Archer moved towards Anak and her green weapon. A weapon that was made of metal, yet stretched and contorted when she swung it. The lizard girl looked up before Archer covered half the ground and bolted to meet him halfway. Archer reacted by bringing his two metre long sword up to catch the regular.

Anak checked her stride to deflect the strike with ease, using her green blade to force the blade wide. Archer immediately stepped back and to the side to gain distance. The humanoid lizard just gave a wicked grin and shoved off. Her sudden acceleration blew past his guard, allowing her to come down in a heavy chop with her weapon. Archer let go of his blade to catch the main body of the weapon with his left hand. The slightly curved end of the weapon extended into a wicked point that curved forward. Archer jerked his head to the side, managing to limit the damage to just his ear.

“So it can extend from the end…” Archer muttered, pulling the weapon past him with raw strength. Anak slid across the ground, as her weapon settled into a hook. With another flicker of prana, he altered the blood flowing from his ear to clot, slowing the bleeding to a few beads dripping down his face. The mysterious weapon was edged on the inside of the hook, but it was clearly designed to pierce with the end.

Anak hissed, swinging her main arm down. With the motion the hook enlarged to cover the entire distance between them, extending faster than the swing itself. Archer caught the blow on his katana, only to fall to a knee and struggle against the massive force of the weapon. It had grown heavier as well, puling more mass from _somewhere_. Thankfully his weapon handled the blow, even if the metal had stressed more than was comfortable.

Just as quickly as the weapon had extended, it disappeared back into its smaller form. Archer immediately rolled to the side, fleeing the next blow before it begun. Anak tried to correct the swing at the last moment, but the extra inertia was too much to overcome without compacting the weapon back down.

Archer sprang forward as soon the blow cratered the ground to his side. Of course Anak immediately retracted the extended length of her weapon, but Archer managed to get within range to fight her in melee. That close, there was a limit to how much Anak could extend her weapon for extra mass before it became to long to be practical. She attempted to use more of the rotational forms that made short work of the third team of regulars, but Archer merely kept striking at her before the rotational velocity could build up enough to make good use of the extra mass.

Even so, the counter attacks were savage blows that Archer was forced to parry. It wasn’t as reflexive with this longer weapon, even with a combination of his own and Assassin’s skills. If he had more practice with Assassin’s blade, to refine the style the wraith had used, then the fight would have been much easier. Instead, Archer rarely managed to land a solid blow. Anak wasn’t easy to overpower, with good strength and the advantages of her weapon.

Another parry showered the pair in sparks, as Archer forced Anak’s hook over his head. With a shiver of prana, Archer reinforced his body to better use Assassin’s technique. Muscle memory was overwritten with those recorded in Sasaki Kojirou’s blade. His blows flowed quicker as he relied on the natural ability of Kojirou to use the blade from any position.

Finally, after Anak misread his footwork and struck to the right of the servant, he had his opening. With a step forward, he swung to cripple her primary arm. Even out of position, Anak tried to block the blow with her off hand. She only managed to take the wound along her left arm, deep enough to weep a steady stream of blood. Anak drove the end of her weapon into the ground and used it’s extension vault back, making distance.

Archer bolted forward. Between his second and third step, Anak rose her weapon above her head and shrunk it down to a metre and a half. Shinsoo sparked off the weapon, causing Archer to roll to the side immediately. The pressure of the natural shinsoo didn’t increase like with Lero Ro’s shinsoo ability, instead seeming to steam off of the lizard and her weapon.

“Ignition!” Anak shouted, causing the steam to erupt into a cloud of shinsoo.

Her weapon slammed into the roof, growing longer and thicker. The blade bent forward and rocketed towards the ground. Archer leapt to the side, avoiding the car girthed weapon. A second stalk of the blade grew out and caught Archer in the back. The blow sent him tumbling over the throne. Pivoting in the air to land facing Anak, the servant increased his reinforcement, letting him land smoothly and bolt right back towards Anak.

Anak retracted her weapon from where it had extended, suggesting she had a limited mass to work with. From behind her, Jin lunged from nowhere and hit the lizard in the back of her head. The blow caused Anak to stumble, but she reacted quickly with a backhand. The slap sent Jin skidding back, but her distraction let Archer close the distance.

Archer landed in front of Anak with his back turned and his blade raised to shoulder level. He turned to look at his target over his shoulder. Anak sneered at him and reeled back for another strike. Ingrained experience from Unlimited Blade Works was called into his servant body, changing the flow of his od to better mimic the wraith he copied his blade from. Imposed serenity overcame his mind, causing his body to relax.

“Tsubame Gaeshi!” Archer invoked, the name calling forward his reality marble’s recollection. A blow that through skill bordering upon the Second Magic, existed thrice at once. Fabricated scenes recalled a decade of training, and his body fixed the minute errors in the stance he had taken. In front of him, his foe’s weapon began to expand as her body shifted it’s momentum to throw the next strike forward. Archer spun on his back heel, building up the speed to attain the technique. His blade shifted, becoming for a single moment, an infinite sword.

Anak’s muscles spasmed as she arrested her momentum, but it was too late. The one performing the technique had already created the future that she couldn’t escape from. The horizontal strike began earliest, causing a white flash. Anak, already shorter than most, moved to dodge the predicted first blow, only for the second flash to catch her off guard. The third flash, boxed her in. There was a moment of three phantasmal mirages performing different strikes at once.

Anak was trapped within a cage of blades. Simultaneously, her hair was reaped with the horizontal strike, while the two vertical strikes bit into her shoulders. The green blade in her hand was still extending, before it shot forward to block the left strike. Too slow to intercept the attack, it plowed through the steel blade. With an explosion of steel and white sparks, all three possible blades shattered halfway through the blow.

Archer finished the blow with his blade resting in his right hand. He redirected some of his dwindling supply of prana to keep the broken blade stable enough to use. Anak herself leapt back several metres, showering the ground with a liberal coating of blood. Even with his technique neutered by the damage to his traced weapon, the wounds were deep enough that Archer could let blood loss take over.

“Oi! We only have a minute left!” Eun called, dashing towards Anak. Her cleaver blade bit into the stone ground as the lizard girl bounced away.

“Of course,” Archer called, rushing forward to assist his teammate. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jin tying up those already defeated.

Anak raised her weapon back up into the air, the green metal growing into six chest sized stalks. Each one bent and went flying towards the nearest enemy. Eun sprinted to the side as four of them slammed down after her. Archer had the easier task of dealing with two of the seeking stalks. Apparently they had more dexterity when smaller, as the two stalks bent before they struck the ground behind him and grew to chase after him.

Archer threw his remaining half of Monohoshi Zao at the regular, forcing her to release her weapon with her off hand. The katana shattered as she deflected the blade into the ground, but the moments when only one hand held her weapon stalled the stalks chasing after Eun and Archer. Eun closed the distance first, swinging down with her cleaver.

Anak yanked her green hook down to catch the weapon on it’s length. Eun immediately stepped back when her blade failed to bite into the green weapon. Archer silently ordered his pocket to move into Anak’s peripheral vision. The silent familiar obeyed, hovering invisibly to all senses. Archer mimed drawing a weapon from his hip, disguising the tracing of a simple Roman gladius.

The moment he moved to thrust with the plain sword, he willed his pocket into its ‘visible mode’. Anak reacted to the sudden object in the corner of her eye by predictably flinching away. Her reaction speed was enough to actually knock the black sphere from the air with her backhand, unfortunately damaging the useful familiar.

Eun took the opportunity as well, further distracting Anak from Archer’s rearmed hand. With a simple thrust, the slowly appearing blade speared through the lizard’s wrist on her main hand. The Roman blade drove through the soft flesh, slicing through muscles with ease. With a suddenly weak grip, the green weapon slipped out of hands. A cleaver blade cut into the lizard’s chest, bringing out another burst of blood onto the ground.

“And team Emiya wins!” Lero Ro’s voice cut through the air, “Stop fighting and let our medics do their jobs regulars!”

Archer stepped back, panting involuntarily. Burning through that much prana wasn’t pleasant without a master to fuel him. Eun flicked her blade to the side and worked on cleaning the blood off the blade. Jin pulled Archer another step backwards just as a small group of white garbed people with medical supplies on hand rushed past him to stabilize Anak.

“Feeling okay there?” Jin asked, offering him a drink from some bottle. “I got some stuff off those guys,” she explained, pulling a white pill bottle out.

“Thanks, just a little out of breath from that fight.” Archer said, taking a deep drink from the bottle. The fluid was refreshing, if useless for a servant. Looking at Jin, he frowned when she dry swallowed at least fifteen pills. “You doing okay?”

“Just a migraine, I’ll explain later.” Jin replied, taking the drink back from Archer and taking a swig herself.

Aside from Anak, most of the injuries suffered by their competitors didn’t seem immediately lethal. The medics must have concurred, ferrying the others off the field one by one, while a pair remained to dress the lizard girl’s wounds. Eun walked up, her large cleaver blade stowed on her back. She was breathing heavily as well, with bruises forming on her check, but otherwise seemed happy.

“Still have the crown, Jin?” Eun asked, drawing a cringe from the short redhead.

“Keep it down, my head is pounding.” Jin hissed, before fetching the crown from a belt pouch. “Here you go.”

“Nah, keep it. If your head hurts that much we’ll leave you on the throne for the next round.” Eun said, cracking her neck. “Good job with that lizard, Hatsu was it?”

“Hatsu was the guy, her name was Anak.” Archer corrected, looking towards where Anak had fallen. They had her wounds sown shut, with bandages being applied. Beside her was the green weapon stained red.

“You could just take it, I don’t think they'd stop you.” Jin said, nudging his side.

“What?” Archer asked, turning to look at his teammates.

“Dude, you’ve been staring at that weapon almost as soon as you saw it.” Eun said, patting his head. “She destroyed your weapon, it’s only fair you take hers, right?”

The weapon had useful abilities, Archer admitted to himself. It’s ability to rebuff structural analysis alone was academically interesting, if only to figure out how to navigate around similar protections. His gladius was plain steel, and he doubted he would be able to trace another mystic code for a dozen minutes at best. Also, he would never voice it, but Archer just _wanted_ the weapon.

So he walked over to where it fell and grabbed the weapon. He let his gladius disperse into loose prana. The green hilt was slick with blood, but underneath the fluid, it was warm. Jin had been right, no one stopped him from taking the weapon. Instead the medics gave him a wide berth, avoiding him like the plague. Archer returned to the throne with the green hook sitting naturally in his right hand. Jin was sitting on the throne, with Eun sitting on the left arm of the stone edifice.

“Well, Emiya, when were you going to tell us you were in the Arie family?” Eun asked, leaning back against the spine of the throne.

“What ever gave you that idea?” Archer replied, sitting crossed legged on the other arm of the throne. He laid the weapon across his lap and wiped the blood from its surface.

“That sword technique was classical Arie style.” Eun said, cracking her neck. “Makes a woman kind of jealous you know?”

“It was a technique developed over the course of a hundred years. I’m sure given that much time you would have similar talents.” Archer said, trying to recall how long he had actually spent developing his reality marble under Alaya.

“Maaaan, you are old!” Eun whistled, eyes slightly wide. “I thought most people that old were either already climbing the tower, or never going to be chosen.”

“Guys, migraine.” Jin bit out, taking another swig from her stolen drink.

“It’s getting worse?” Emiya asked, worry staining his voice.

“They set in slowly.” Jin replied, with a wince. “If I’d known that I would have one now, I would have taken the pills earlier.”

“Don’t worry Jin, I’ll take care of the next round.” Eun whispered.

“Team Emiya, the crown actually needs to be _worn_ , not just carried.” Lero Ro’s voice came from the speakers.

“Fine!” Jin growled, shoving the golden headpiece on.

“Alright Regulars! Sign up for the second round starts now!”

Archer ran his hand over the embossed symbol of three eyes on his blade, finally visibly underneath the red blood. Shining like rubies, the symbol seemed to catch the light no matter how he moved the weapon. It didn’t appear to have any ability to be controlled like a familiar, unlike his pocket. Speaking of which, he had left it in invisible mode against the corner of the room. He would try and repair it when he had a chance to rest.

“Trace on,” Archer muttered, focusing on the familiar image of a gun cocking to prepare himself for magecraft. “Structural analysis.”

His prana flowed down the weapon, bringing a vivid image of its shape to mind. Sinking deeper, he flushed the energy through the materials. This weapon was _Green April_ , forged by a man known as Ashul Edwaru for Jahad . Part of his masterpiece series of weapons known as the Thirteen Months, he forged with weapons with pure suspendium, vines of the hundredth floor guardian, and _the ke-_

With a painful twist, his spell broke. Green April forced the prana out of itself as if it carried its own prana to do so with. Leaving Archer with a splitting headache that seemed to linger. Archer sighed as he shifted from his perch. Somehow this hook had actively rebutted his spell, rather than passively rejecting the prana.

“Second round, Start!” Lero Ro called, causing Archer to focus back on the immediate situation.


End file.
